River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-09-15
Symposium on High License.
BY MARY ALLEN WEST.

! IA lltln0lS the minimum license for
| distilled liquors is i've hundred dollars,
and for fermented liquors one hundred
and fifty dollars. In many places the
| license is much higher, sometimes
reaching two thousand dollars. and in
many the same sum is required for
| selling beer as for selling whiskey. The
assertion is constantly made that the
| Harper or license law here has reduced
| the number of saloons in the state four
thousand, has closed up the low dives,
and placed the business of selling liq-
uOr i'll more respectable" hands. Our
inquiries have been mainly directed to
these three points.
Turning to the internal revenue re-
| port for 1880, before the Harper law
went into effect, we find that
there were then Is, 1888 licensed dram
shops in Illinois. In 1885 there were
l0,99l showing a reduction of 2,I05,
showing reduction of little over half
the number claimed.
The next point we tried to ascertain
was whether this reduction was real
one, or whether the increase in the
number of places where liquor is sold
without a license does not counter
balance the decrease in licenses. This
question has twofOld significance, as
its answer determines the truthfulness
OF another assertion of the advocates
| of high License, which is that illegal
selling Of liquors will be decreased,
because the men who have paid high
license will be on the lookout to stop
the sale of liquor without a license.
Mr.. 5. w. Packard, of Chicago gives
valuable testimony upon this point.
While doing business il Chicago Mr..
Packard resided in one of its suburban
towns, and became convinced that in
these towns there was much illegal
selling. He determined to investigate
this matter thoroughly in Cook county
outside of Chicago. lie went to the
county clerks office and ascertained
how many saloons were licensed in the
various precincts. He then took his
horse aud deliberately visited these To-
calities to ascertain how well the re-
cords agreed with the actual facts. In
one township where the records showed
nine dramshOps before the passage of
the Harper law, and only one now, he
found eight running in full blast, with
no attempt at cOncealment. In anoth-
er place where, according to the re-
cords, there were thirteen dramshOps
before and only eight now, he found
fourteen now. In another place
he found five where the records
showed but one now and four before
the passage of the law. In another
locality he found there were two flour
ishing dramshops where the county
records showed one saloon before the
passage of the Harper bill and none
afterwards. These are fair samples
of the results ascertained.
This painstaking investigator dis
covered another, that aids materially
in accounting for this state of things.
He went back to the records to find
how and when licenses are paid. He
found that they are usually paid quar-
terly, in advance. The first quarter
after the law went into effect they
were paid promptly, but as he traced
the record out he found that each sue
ceeding quarter the payment was de-
layed a few days longer than the
previous one, till at last the delays
covered the entire quarter, and the
license was not paid at all, and of
course, decreased the number of re-
corded dramshops.
Again, he found that many who at
first took out the five hundred dollar
license for selling distilled liquors, now
take out only the cheaper license for
fermented liquors, though a visit to
their place of business showed them
selling just as much whiskey as ever.
His explanation of this state of things
is thi5' At first the saloon keepers
complied with the law, believing they
must do so; next they ventured to test
the officials by little delay in paying
their license-no harm came of it, SO
they venture little farther; no harm;
immunity from bad consequences
wrought its usual result, increased dis
regard of law until it became a dead
letter. At first, probably, the expert
ment was tried by few of the most
daring and INSCRIPTIONS dealers; find
ing they did not suffer, the less daring
ones followed their example, upon
learning as they could very easily do
when they paid their own license, that
their neighbor had not paid his. Sell
ing whiskey under beer license came
about in similar way. Thus the evil
became a two-edged sword, destroying
MudL lulu IlUilOl anu DtllSG VI IAN
dealing the dramseller had and blind
ing the eyes of honest people to the
real workings of high license.
Again, Mr.. Packard's investigations
proved conclusively that in Cook cOun.
ty the tendency of the law has not been
to incite those holding licenses for
which they have paid high price, to
assist in bringing to justice those who
sell illegally. They do not inform up
on their neighbors lest their neighbOrs
return the compliment by informing
upon them. Every dramseller in Cook
county lives in "A glass house, and so
he dares not throw stones.
If we had, as we earnestly wish we
had in every county in the state, an
observer as painstaking and cOnscien-
tiOus as Mr.. Packard, we feel sure the
same could be proved of every dram
seller i'm Illinois. Temperance men
can do no more practical temperance
work than this, and we hope at least
one man in every county will under
take It.
Another point proved by Mr.. Pack
ards investig CATIONS the law could not
be thus violated with impuuity with
out collision of its sworn officers with
the offenders; this collision is the nat
ural inevitable result of their being
elected by the whiskey vote, hence the
need of party that dares declare its
independence of the whiskey ring.
Mr.. L. A. Hagens, of Elmhearst, Ill,
testifies: .'High license has not re-
duced the number of saloons in this
| place. nor has it at all improved the
character Of the places where liquor is
sold" We could fill this symposium
with similar testimony from unim-